14 Aug 2012

Use a Gasoline-Powered ATV Wheelchair to go into the Outdoors

By John Phillips

When Chet Dyreson crashed his motorcycle in a motocross race and injured his T1 through T5 vertebrae in his spinal cord, he became paralyzed. Once he realized he would have to spend the rest of his life in wheelchair, he was devastated. However, Dyreson was not a man made for self pity. Little did he know then that his accident would enable him to free many outdoor enthusiasts from their wheelchairs and give them the ability to take themselves into the outdoors and participate in outdoor sports.
After his injury, Dyreson began to build gasoline-powered all-terrain vehicle (ATV) wheelchairs that would cross creeks, climb mountains, travel through mud and snow and take a wheelchair outdoor enthusiast into the back country to hunt and fish. Dyreson explains, "Because I'd been riding motocross bikes most of my life, I understood how much power and speed small gasoline engines could deliver. When I built my first ATV wheelchair, I used a 250cc Kawasaki engine designed and built for a John Deere ATV to power it."

But, what Dyreson didn't know was how-much gas mileage he could get out of the engine, how reliable these small engines could be, and how fast they could push a wheelchair. "Reliability is the first priority a person in a wheelchair needs to consider if they're planning to go off-road," Dyreson says. "We can't just hop out of our wheelchairs and walk back to camp.

To test the dependability of the ATV wheelchair with all-terrain tires, Dyreson decided to take a road trip from Perris, California, to Washington D.C. and learned:

  • his ATV wheelchair would get 100 miles per gallon with a range of 350 miles;
  • his ATV wheelchair could run-up to 55-miles per hour on the highway. "That's the speed a highway patrolman clocked me at, before he pulled me over," Dyreson says.
  • a gasoline-powered wheelchair running on major interstates and highways was not illegal; and
  • he could make a 4,000-mile trip in his ATV wheelchair without a single breakdown.

 

 

To learn more about this amazing man and the ATV wheelchairs he creates for adventures in the outdoors, go to Chet Dyreson's website at  www.wheelingtocuresci.org.

To read more stories about amazing people who have overcome their injuries, get the new Kindle eBooks, "Moving Forward: The Stories of Hometown Heroes" and "Courage: The Stories of Hometown Heroes," both by John E. Phillips. Go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the names of these books, and download them to your Kindle and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, Smartphone or computer.

 


# # #
11 Jul 2012

Find Catfish in Holes

By John Phillips
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - 07/10/2012 - Editor's Note: Phil King is not only a catfish guide, but he's one of the nation's and the world's top tournament catfishermen, having competed in the World Catfish Classic in Spain.
King guides on the Tennessee River near Pickwick Lake and Memphis, Tennessee. In 2009, King took first place in the Bass Pro Shop Big Cat Quest tournament held in Memphis with nine catfish weighing 234 pounds. His largest catfish was a 67.10-pound blue cat. For much of his life, King has fished either full-time or part-time as a commercial catfisherman on the Tennessee River. He knows the places in the river where the big cats hang-out, because he's fished this river for more than 2 decades.

"I don't know why catfish prefer chicken livers, because they certainly aren't found naturally in anywhere," King says. "But I've learned that during the hottest part of the summer, for some reason, chicken livers produce more and bigger cats during hot weather than any-other bait I've ever fished." King's catfish honey hole at Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River is a spot in the middle of the river where the bottom drops off from 41 to 78 feet. "Upriver of the hole are a lot of mussel beds," King explains. "The cats feed on those mussels and then come back and rest in the hole. At this particular spot, the river necks-down. Even when there's not much current coming-through the river, this place almost always has more current than other locations on the river do. Anytime you can find a spot where a river becomes a bottleneck, and the area has plenty of current as well as a deep hole in it, you not only can find cats there but specifically big cats."

King fishes with bottom-bumping tackle and techniques. King also carries with him a large dip net, another of his secrets for landing big cats. "Many big cats are lost at the boat because an angler isn't prepared to boat a large catfish," King comments. "I use a 32-inch x 27-inch size dip net. Then, I can get a big cat in the net and pull it into the boat." King caught his biggest catfish ever, a 64 pounder, in 1997 during the National Catfish Derby. King has spent his lifetime fishing and more than 25 years targeting catfish on the Tennessee River and other places, including overseas. He'll take two anglers catfishing with their rods and reels all day, and they'll average 30 to 100 pounds of cats. "All the fishermen have to do is show-up with their fishing licenses, what they want to eat and drink and an ice chest to carry home their catches," King says. "I provide the rods, the reels, the hooks, the tackle and the bait. I clean the fish for them and then put the fish in their ice chests." To fish with Phil King's Catfishing Guide Service, call 662-286-8644, or go to http://www.h2othouse.com/catfish/

In John E. Phillips' new Kindle book, "Catfish Like a Pro," he interviews some of the best catfishermen in the world, to learn the techniques for not only catching big catfish, but also for catching large numbers of eating-size catfish. Or, you can go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, and type-in the name of the book to find it.
08 Jun 2012

Kids and Catfish - Fun Catching and Delicious Eating

By John Phillips
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - 06/05/2012 - Catch a lot of catfish, and build a memory that will last a lifetime. Most youngsters prefer to catch fish, than fish for fish. The more fish they catch, the more excited they get. One method for catching catfish at this time of year is fishing with Catch-O-Matics (automatic fishing reels also known as Yo-Yos). A Yo-Yo works by simply tying a string attached to the Yo-Yo to a green limb of a tree that hangs-out over the water. Next, pull the line out on the other end of the Yo-Yo that has a hook and bait on it. As you pull the string out with the baited hook, a string inside the Yo-Yo is caused to compress. When a catfish takes the bait, it trips the trigger, making a spring inside the device uncoil. This process sets the hook and keeps tension on the line as the catfish tries to swim away.

 

To collect your catfish, you can land small fish by pulling on the line. To land bigger catfish, you may have to use a dip net. But, check state rules and regulations about using Yo-Yos, before you fish with them. Another technique for catching a lot of cats and having a lot of catfish this summer is to jug fish for cats.

 

In John E. Phillips' new book, "Catfish Like a Pro," he interviews some of the best catfishermen in the world, to learn the techniques for not only catching big catfish, but also for catching large numbers of eating-size catfish. You can go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, and type-in the name of the book to find it.


 

Tips for Tasty Catfish

 

* Catfish in some areas may have an off-flavor or a fishy taste to them. To solve this problem, put your catfish fillets in an ice chest or a large container, cover the fillets with ice and then cover the ice with 7UP. Allow the catfish to stay in the ice and 7UP for at least 2 or 3 hours; then remove them from the ice, and cook them anyway you like. The meat will be sweet and tasty.

 

* The meat of catfish will be firm and tasty when frying, if you'll put your fillets in ice and water for at least a minute, before you batter and fry them. By following this procedure, when that cold catfish hits that hot oil, the meat will stay firm and delicious.

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